Eric's Revenge
by notdoneatforty
Summary: Third part of Eric's Demons. Very much in love Eric and Sookie settle back into life in Bon Temps, until the past catches up with them. Contains lemons and Eric with his sword. Rated M for both.
1. Chapter 1

A/N I don't own any of TB, but I love to visit. Here we go again, I hope it's a good ride!

Eric's Revenge

Chapter One

Soft pale sunlight crept slowly over the forests and farmland of Louisiana, pushing away the pre-dawn mist. The air was still and quiet during the moment when night's creatures retired and day's creatures stirred. During that peaceful moment when dawn crossed the state the light found creatures scurrying from it's glare. Folk who should have been home long ago doing the walk of shame as they passed folk who worked hard and started early.

When it came to fall on an anonymous meadow just north of Shreveport there was a brief flash of flame and the terrified agonized screams of a woman. Then all was still once more, the only evidence of the little drama in the meadow a lazy curl of smoke climbing to the sky.

Sookie Stackhouse admired herself in the full length mirror. Over the last few weeks her tan had returned, and she was in better shape than she had ever been. She had been blessed with a narrow waist and generous bust, and had been described as beautiful. Smiling back at herself she knew that the nights with Eric were contributing to how she looked.

For a waitress from Bon Temps she was happy with her lot in life. Sookie knew she was us people, not them people, although she would struggle to elaborate on what that meant if asked. She had never had much luck in love, what with her disablity and all, but recently her luck had changed. First there had been her southern gentlman, Bill Compton, darkly gorgeous and charmingly old fashioned. But times moved on. Currently her heart belonged to a bar owner from Shreveport called Eric, a huge, muscular sex god straight from Norse mythology.

During her time with Eric she had experienced things, learned things, that she never would have had she stayed in Merlotte's waiting on tables. He was everything she wanted, considerate, passionate and very much in love with her. That she could rarely hear his thoughts was a bonus, although when she really tried she could get an idea of what he was thinking. Not that Eric took much reading, most of the time when they were together she knew exactly what he wanted. Such a pity he was dead, or he would have been absolutely perfect.

He had just left her as the sun approached, gone to ground so to speak until daylight had passed. Sookie ached from the attention he had given her the previous night, and her neck hurt a little, like a dull throb, where he had bit her. Biting was like Eric's way of saying I love you, she thought. Not that he was frightened to tell her of his love, as long as they were alone.

Across the hall in the sprawling plantation house she had heard sounds of movement as Eric was leaving. Ulrich had been with her friend Nula all night, and had most likely followed Eric to the cellar as the morning approached. The pairing had been a little unexpected, but they seemed very much into each other if the noises she heard in the night were anything to go by. It was as if they were making up for lost time, which in a way they were. Centuries of it.

Dressed only in their housecoats the ladies would have tea every morning, watching the sun come up. It was the one thing they could not share with their loves, as the sunlight would be fatal to them. Both men were vampires, but that did not make them bad people. Not always.

When Sookie had first encountered Nula she had looked very different, an ancient and proud old woman who had once fought alongside the men. She was a telepath and more, just like Sookie, but her powers came from her Nephilim heritage. Nula, last of the Nephilim, currently wore the body of a pretty blonde fangbanger she had met in a bar in Shreveport. It was one of her more interesting traits that she could move from body to body at will, although she claimed not to enjoy doing it.

Together in silence, both satisfied with the hand life had dealt them, the women watched the start of a new day.

After shopping in town, both Sookie and Nula were continually buying new underwear because their men weren't gentle with the lacy stuff, they had lunch in the little cafe beside the mall. Both popped iron tablets as a ward against anaemia before they ate, another little ritual one got used to when your lover was a vampire. Blood and lust were often as one for them.

Together they cleaned the parts of the grand old house that they used, then settled in front of the early evening television to watch a re-run of Rikki Lake. It would be dark soon. Sookie's body was yearning for Eric in anticipation of the treats he would share with her, and she with him. He was a skilled lover, a thousand years of experience wrapped into a body that made her mouth water. Over time she had learned to let go, and gave every bit as good as she got. If this was to be the rest of her life she would be happy.

After dark Sookie found him in the shower, he had his back to her as she entered the pristine white bathroom. The air was thick with steam as she approached him, her pulse quickening. Eric was very tall, and muscular. He had broad shoulders, narrow waist, athletic legs, and the kind of ass that should be kept on display in a gallery. With his head under the shower he hadn't heard her enter the room until she had slipped off her dress and stood behind him under the hot water. Eric liked the water extremely hot so she had to reach over and turn the temperature down a little. Her arm brushed his, alerting him to her presence.

"Couldn't wait?" he grinned. His blonde hair was soaked and lay flat on his head, his eyes sought hers as his fangs extended.

"Thought you could use a hand," she said, pinching his firm ass.

Water coarsing over them his hands found her breasts, cupping them, squeezing the flesh. He'd had women blessed with a larger bust who had little feeling there, but Sookie responded to every stimulus. When he brushed the nipples she moaned her pleasure.

Her hand found it's way round his ass to the place where his pleasure was making itself known, pressed into her as it was. Gently, slowly, she began to massage him as he manipulated her breasts, his mouth finding her neck. Eric was a master when it came to playing on the instrument that was her body. His teeth and tongue worked her neck, up to her ear. When he took the lobe between his teeth and sucked her body responded. Sookie gasped in delight.

While one hand still gently manipulated him, the other cupped beneath and applied firm pressure to his tightened skin. Eric growled his pleasure right into her ear, his lips vibrating on her lobe. She shuddered, for a moment thinking her knees would buckle. But they held, although when his attention moved to her belly, then gently down, she knew they wouldn't for long. The hot moistness she felt had nothing to do with the shower.

He pressed his mouth to hers, tongue parting her lips, then gently probing her mouth. Between her legs his fingers were probing too. Through their kiss she could feel his grin as he slipped a finger into her. Sookie swore she could feel the ridges of his fingerprint move against her. Her hands began to work harder and he responded by increasing the pace at which his finger worked her, all the while their mouths locked in a slow world stopping kiss.

When she could take it no more Sookie pushed him back against the tiled wall. He knew at once what she wanted, lifting her with both hands. For a moment she felt a sense of loss when he withdrew his finger, but the loss was nothing to the pleasure that erupted inside her as he slowly lowered her down onto him, stretching her around his pleasure.

Slowly they moved together, finding their rhythm. As his pace increased she wrapped her legs around his, drawing him as far in as he could go. Her tension was building to fever pitch as he increased the pace, punishing her in his enthusiasm. Lights flashed behind her eyes as her body exploded with sensations, she clung to him, nails breaking the skin, as he exploded inside her. His teeth found her neck. For a long time they stood like that under the warm water, as if neither wanted the moment to end.

Eric answered his cell phone. Beside him on the bed Sookie lay back, eyes closed, listening to his conversation. When he hung up he was agitated.

"I have to go," he said, kissing her mouth.

"I heard, what's wrong?"

"There's been an incident outside Shreveport, needs a Sheriff," he told her.

The moment was lost, but there would be many more. Sookie sighed and let go of her magnificent viking. She drank in every detail of his splendid sculpted body as he dressed in black jeans and shirt. Eric had been fortunate to be at his prime when he had been turned.

"Will I come?" she asked, aware that there were times when Eric chose to conduct vampire business where she could not see. Sookie was no fool, she knew that when he didn't want her along it was because he expected to behave in a way that she would dislike. Once long ago she had drawn a promise from him not to hurt anyone she implicated when she used her gift. She had lost count of the times he had broken that promise.

It was just that Eric didn't value human life the way that she did.

Out in the meadow they found Pam waiting. Pam was Eric's partner in the club, a pretty blonde vampire with quick wit and active mind. Sookie found her the most agreeable of the vampires she had met, after Eric of course.

Eric was very agreeable.

They wouldn't need a tour. There was a man sized burn mark between four wooden posts, some of which still had charred rope attached. The burned remains of a woman lay over the scorched grass. Her mouth was still wide open, as it had been when she went screaming into death. A vampire had been brought here to meet the sun, his woman tied to him.

Towards the edge of the clearing were four recently evacuated graves. She reached the conclusion quickly that it had been vampires who had done this. They had staked out their victim, tied down his woman, then retreated to the earth as the sun came up. It was unlikely they had been gone more than an hour.

Problem was that with vampires an hour could get them a long way away from here.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Sorry I've been neglecting this story to start working on Eric's Fate, first three chapters are up on the SVM thread. As always wish me luck, I hope I don't spoil this. And if you have the time please review, it's the reviews that are helping me become a better writer. Thanks for reading.

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Two

Shreveport was quiet tonight. When they got to the club it was empty. Eric looked a little disappointed, although he knew that word of the murder would have spread by now. The vampire community would go to ground until the killers were caught.

Sookie wondered if the mainstreaming blood lovers would ever fully trust each other, let alone the rest of the world. She had been exposed to their secret ways, their ranks and rituals and rules that were kept hidden from humankind. But now that vampires were killing vampires there was a real chance that the whole vampire scene would disappear. It wouldn't do Eric's business much good either.

Placing themselves at the bar both Nula and Ulrich gave the impression that there was nothing amiss with the world. They were very much into each other, and laughed and talked casually. Sookie knew it was a front for Eric's sake, she could feel Nula's tension. Someone was going to have a mad as hell Sheriff to answer to.

When she closed the office door behind her Eric was on the phone. He'd explained before that they had someone in the Sheriff's department, and was sure from the conversation that he was talking to that contact now. He looked cross when he hung up.

"Angela Holbeck," he told Sookie. When she shrugged, not recognizing the name he elaborated.

"The dead fangbanger, she was nineteen. I remember her coming in here with Louis Blanchard, the big guy with too much ink. He was young as we reckon it, she was very pretty. I'm not aware that he had beef with anyone, but I've got some people checking." Eric rubbed his face with his palms.

Moving across the room Sookie stood behind Eric, her hands working at the knots in his broad shoulders. He leaned back into her as her deft fingers straightened out the tension in his muscles. When Eric turned to kiss her he found her mouth near his, waiting. She was soft and warm and sweet, and he enjoyed those kisses as much now as he had done when they first got together. Experience had given Sookie an edge like steel, but it covered a very gentle inside.

Pulling her down onto his lap Eric drank hungrily from her mouth, his thirst for her matched by the growing thirst for her blood. His fangs were out, a sight he knew was sure to increase her desire. She'd once confessed that the teeth did it for her almost as much as his gracious plenty, and he'd never let her live it down. As if to confirm this she licked his fangs. In his lap her heat was growing, he could smell her arousal, could taste it in her saliva.

The office door was unlocked, but no-one would disturb this pair when they were in here, it was more than their life was worth.

Eric opened her blouse, palmed her breasts through the fine silk bra she wore beneath. Her mouth worked with his, their tongues dueling, while her hands and wriggling hips freed her of her jeans. Sookie pulled the silk panties away herself, she liked this pair. Like teenagers they writhed together on the leather chair, Eric still dressed, as his hands pulled the silk cups forward, his fingertips finding the straining buds that were her nipples. He nuzzled her neck as one hand reached behind her to unfasten the bra.

"Sorry hun', front fastening," Sookie told his neck, undoing the clasp herself to save the garment from ruin.

Eric growled in her ear, a sound that made her vibrate from head to toe. She was naked now, while he was fully clothed. Her hands sought his shirt tails, pulling it up over his head to cast it on the floor behind. She stopped kissing him long enough to admire his chest.

How beautiful was her viking vampire. He had been in peak physical condition when he had been turned, a fact that Sookie appreciated every time she saw him naked. Just as she wanted to see him now. He obliged her, worming out of his jeans with her still on his lap. Gracious plenty was awake, pressing against her butt.

Urgency took over as she moved her hips to accommodate him. He guided himself in with a hand before tracing her own wetness across her cheek to her lips. Sookie lowered herself onto him, feeling how he stretched her as she took all he had. At once she was working him, hips up and down in an ever increasing pace, while her internal muscles clenched naturally around him. She could feel his tension building along with her own as he thrust into her from the chair to meet her every stroke. When his hand moved down her belly to her opening, resting for a moment on her nerve center, Sookie exploded in a powerful climax.

He wasn't done with her yet, Eric had a thousand years on her when it came to technique. He took for granted skills that normal men would never develop. Despite the pain of his touch as her nerves screamed she twisted forward onto his hand, encouraging him to "Play it again". Grinning with pleasure he obliged.

Lights flashed before her eyes as he brought her off again, before thrusting one long last stroke into her, challenging her insides to contain him. Sookie could feel him pumping into her as he bit deep into her neck, savoring her blood as he drank from her.

Afterward they sat together naked in the chair, Sookie sleepy from the exertions. For all the bad things that had happened to her since she fell in with vampires, Eric was worth it. She rested her head against his neck, sweat drying on her skin as he stroked her back with one finger.

When Eric returned to the bar a little later, leaving Sookie to dress, he found Ulrich and Pam arguing about who should disturb him. A few of the regulars had drifted in, but they were keeping very much to their own company. The grin was wiped off his face when he heard what they were saying.

"He needs to know," Ulrich finished.

"But Sookie's in there, nothing on or under this Earth is worth disturbing that for," Pam rebuked.

"You're right, but I'm here now," he told them. "What's happened?"

"Pierre Little, Blanchard's maker," Pam told him.

"What about him?" Eric asked.

"The little that's left of him was found staked to the front of Sookie's house an hour ago. Eric this is either something personal at Little, or..." she let the sentence trail away.

"Or it's against me," Eric finished for her.

Four grim figures stood in front of Sookie's home, eying the disintegrating corpse with interest. The local police hadn't arrived yet, there had been a human murder in town which was already stretching their manpower. Over the scent of blood and death Eric could smell something new hanging on the air. It was a scent he hadn't encountered since the meeting in England with the heads of the vampire families. Expensive French cologne that hadn't been mixed or made for over a hundred years.

Eric knew now who the killers were.


	3. Chapter 3

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Three

"They're back," Eric told the others.

"Who is?" Sookie asked, fearing the answer.

"The whole crowd probably, the family heads definitely. This," he indicated the putrefying and disappearing corpse, "this was a challenge."

"I was getting restless anyway," Ulrich told no-one in particular.

Deciding not to go back to the bar the group instead returned to the plantation house. On the way Eric was silent, thoughtful. Sookie rested her hand in his, feeling robbed of the little moment of happiness they had enjoyed.

From the dirt road they all saw the smoke ahead, the red flames licking up at the night sky. Eric growled and pulled the car over to the roadside. From the trunk he and Ulrich collected the swords they habitually kept to hand.

"Let's hope the bastards are still there," Ulrich said.

Still inside the car Sookie squeezed Nula's hand, as much for her own comfort as for the Nephilim's. As the vampires took to the air both women started opening the little doors in their heads.

"Shit!" Sookie reacted at once.

"I see it Sookie," Nula told her.

"They're flying straight into it, it's an ambush!" Sookie tried to reach out to Eric, to send him a warning. With no idea if he had received it or not she started to run up the dirt road, Nula following. Reaching ahead she tried to count the attackers lying in wait. There were dozens of the voids that were vampires, and more of the evil devil dogs they had first encountered at York. But there were other minds up there too, things she hadn't felt before.

Eric landed in their path, "What is it Sookie?"

"They've come in force, we can't handle everything that's up there," she told him, then outlined everything she had seen. His expression grew darker as she spoke.

"Time to run, Eric," Ulrich told him.

"To the car?" Nula asked.

"Too slow, we'll fly," Eric told her.

Eerie red light lit up the creatures who had gathered around the plantation house as the flames destroyed the period building. Four vampires, ancient and evil, watched and waited for some sign that their quarry approached. After a while it became clear they weren't coming. It had taken a great deal of planning to gather so many of their creatures here without the locals knowing of their presence, and now the element of surprise was lost.

No matter. Eric would die this time, their masters demanded it.

"Where are we going?" Nula asked.

"The bar first, they'll come to it when we don't arrive here," Eric told them. "Once we've warned Pam and the others then we run, until we can fight them on our own terms. So many supes gathered like that will be hard to control, and even harder to hide."

The bar was still all but deserted when they got there. Eric burst in through the back door like a vampire on a mission, which he was. Pam saw the haunted look on his face, and knew at once that there was trouble.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Close up and get out now!" he ordered.

Pam did as she was asked while Eric told her that she had to run, had to hide until he came for her. She listened to the words spilling from his mouth, but most of them were nonsense to her. Still she would do exactly as Eric told her.

Splinters of wood burst into the bar as the locked front door burst in.

"Too late!" Sookie said.

Shrugging off his coat Eric moved quicker than the eye could follow to block the doorway, Ulrich at his side. Despite the danger both men were grinning, battle lust had taken them. From behind them Sookie flung open the little doors that gave her access to her power, prepared to burn or turn anything that could not be stabbed with straight steel. Nula moved to the back door, ushering everyone else out, urging them to run.

Four of the large black angels met Eric at the front door. Up close he could see that their eyes were pits of fire, their mouths seemed sewn shut. He had no idea of the significance of this subtle difference, and no time to think about it. Instinct took over as he parried the first blow from the creature to his left, having to step back to stop the thing from disemboweling him. Another series of blows from it's partner forced him on back into the club. To his right he could see that Ulrich was equally hard pressed.

They came spilling into the club, seeming too large for the space they occupied. These black angels were different, they were tougher and faster than those they had fought before. Behind them the child Naeve, the pretty girl with the ringlets in her hair, stood laughing.

"My new pets, Northman, are they worthy?" she taunted.

Muscles rippled across Eric's back as he was forced again to parry a whirlwind of blows from the advancing pair. He was quickly running out of space to retreat. Ulrich had managed to land a few blows on one of the creatures facing him, but the thing just shrugged the wounds off and kept advancing. In a moment this was all going to go bad.

Sookie was locked in a battle of wills with the girl. She was appalled at the things she saw in the child's mind before she was forced out. From behind her Nula joined her power with Sookie's, forcing a barrier between themselves and the wall of psychic energy that emanated from the child.

Thrown back into the club as far as he could retreat, Eric knew he needed to make an advantage for himself. Problem with constantly defending was that it was over when you missed one, and by the look of the black angels, the proficiency they showed with their blades, they would make sure it was over. Lurching to the right he crossed Ulrich's path, hoping that his friend would not run him through by mistake. His blade bit through the neck of one of Ulrich's opponents, felling it. Feeling the advantage turn to them the vampires advanced.

Behind the black angels Naeve was hard pressed to keep the defenders out of her mind. She had seen Nula's trick with the body change when her father had been killed, knew she had to hold something back to keep the witch out of her head. Her caution meant she couldn't throw everything she had at the witches to burn them out.

Whirling in flashing steel and fangs the vampires pressed their advantage. Ulrich ran his blade up through the black angel's midsection, pressing his body weight to it when the blade stuck halfway. Foul purple and red entrails wept out of the wound onto his arm as he forced the thing backwards. It couldn't open the sewn up mouth to scream, not even when the vampire slammed his forehead against it's face. He let it fall twitching to the ground, scrabbling to pull it's guts back, before Eric lopped it's head off with a stroke from above. Then there were two. The vampires rushed them.

Naeve collapsed in a pile behind the fighting. Sookie felt her attack stop suddenly, and looked up to see why the little girl had stopped. In the doorway behind her stood Pam, a heavy length of two by two held in both hands. With a grin Sookie turned her attention to the black angels, burning them with blue fire so intense the vampires had to step back to avoid being burned.

It was over. The bar stank of burning flesh and spilled guts. Eric rushed to the little girl, sword outstretched. It was Sookie who stopped him, holding him fast to stay the blow.

"Not this time, Eric," she said.

He looked puzzled and angry, and again tried to land the killing blow on the child before she recovered. Nula had come to stand beside Sookie.

"She's right, Eric. She'll make an interesting prisoner.

Pam stood in the doorway grinning. She liked prisoners.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Sorry for the delay in updating. Every step on this story takes I worry that I've fluffed it. I hope your still enjoying it.

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Four

Naeve's eyes fluttered open. Her head hurt and she felt a terrible sense of loss. She couldn't understand what had happened, they had Eric and his minions cornered, then darkness.

Standing over her Nula saw the girl with the ringlets come too, she waved her hand and Eric came to stand beside her. There he was, Eric Northman, big and smug and beautiful.

"Bet that head hurts," he said, his tone was harsh.

"Release me," she commanded.

"Or what?" he sneered at her.

Inside her head the doors were gone. Her power worked the same way that Sookie's did, but rather than lock the doors they had hidden them. Fear grew in her, perhaps they had taken them forever. Nula was grinning at her.

"I only left your personality because it's so sweet," the Nephilim told her.

"What have you done, my father..."she began.

"Your father is not even vampire," Nula spat at her with contempt. "I've been in your head while you were out, we know what you are now."

"What magic did you use to overpower me?" the girl asked, still puzzled to find herself in this predicament.

"Let's say we called on the help of the tree faeries," Pam answered from behind, still hefting the length of two by two she had used on the girl.

"What now?" the girl with the ringlets asked, "Will you hold me for ransom or terms? My father will not negotiate!"

"Naeve, your going to die here," Eric told her. "How hard a death you have depends on what you tell us."

"Where is your witch, Sookie?" Naeve hoped to appeal to the human side of the group.

"Right here," Sookie answered. Her face was stone, there would be no help from her.

"Will you let them torture me?" she asked, trying to be the little girl she looked, hoping to appeal to Sookie's humanity.

"Let them? I am to be their tool," Sookie laughed, a cold laugh. She had enough of supes trying to kill her. Time to turn the tables.

Naeve felt despair, she knew there would be no mercy if Eric Northman was involved. She resigned herself to telling them what they wanted, in hope of finding a quick death. Once she was dead there would be a new body waiting for her, as there had been the last time. Then she could lead the others back here.

"Not this time," Nula told her. "You forget I'm in your head. We've cut you off, Sookie and I. This time when you die you stay dead!"

It was over quickly. Resigned to her fate the girl told them everything they could not pluck themselves from her mind. When it was done Eric broke her neck, not risking spilling any of her blood. Now that they knew what she was they would take no chances. The body rotted at once, withering up and drying, the husk crumbling, the dust dispersing. There was no red cloud this time, no ceremonial angels. Naeve was dead.

"One down," Eric said grimly.

"How have they fooled the vampires?" Sookie asked.

"Glamour, I think," Eric told her. "Their powers are beyond anything I've encountered."

"Will I get some more timber then?" asked Pam.

Less than ten miles away Julius felt his daughter's passing. They had hunted for her as soon as news of the fight in the club had reached them. He was sure that Eric Northman had her, and now she was dead. Julius could have expected no more than that from the savage. Looking at the boy Brinn, last of his line, he promised himself the prize was worth the cost.

Dawn's soft light found not a trace of the supernatural army that had lain in wait at the plantation house. But in the forest a host of fresh mounds of earth had appeared.

Long after Eric and Ulrich and Pam had gone to ground, the only protection they could find from the sun this far out, Sookie sat alone at the little fire. She had wrapped her arms around her knees to keep warm. When Nula returned she saw at once that her friend had been crying.

"What is it, Sookie?" she asked, dropping to her knees to comfort her friend.

"It's going to end now, isn't it?" Sookie sobbed.

"It can't Sookie, Eric won't let it end this way," Nula assured her.

"You were in her head with me, Nula. What did you see that I could not?" Sookie asked.

Hesitating for just a moment Nula decided her friend needed to know.

"Sookie it's you they're after. Julius wants to absorb your power," Nula told her.

"But who is he, and why? He has so much power already, has he not?" Sookie asked. She knew she was feeling sorry for herself this morning, but why shouldn't she. They had been happy for a little while. Now everyone wanted her dead again. Maybe this time Eric would manage to get her killed.

"Sookie Julius is like nothing you've ever met before. Those black angels are daemons, lords of the armies of hell. The end of days might be coming. Julius thinks that if he adds your power to his he can open the gates. He can't win, Sookie, or this world will die."

"And Julius, what is he?" Sookie asked, eyes full of horror.

"He's a demon Sookie. And he's made himself Eric's own personal demon."

"Then what am I, Nula? Why am I so important?" she wanted to know.

"Sookie, are you sure you are ready to hear this?" Nula asked.

"I am," she said.

"Then ask Eric, he's known all along," she said.

Large strong hands forced their way to the surface when night fell. From three informal graves Eric, Ulrich and Pam pulled themselves out of the soil. Eric smelled trouble on the wind, but he was more concerned when he saw Sookie. He saw something in her he had never seen before.

Defeat.

Crossing the small space to her side he dropped his arm onto her shoulder, gripped her tightly. He wanted to cry for her sorrow, wail for her pain. Instead he just stood there, holding her.

"This will end well," he told Sookie.

"Will it, Eric?" she asked.

"It has to," he told her.

"Will I die, Eric?" she asked.

"You might," he smiled, " but sure death is not so bad."

Sookie smiled up at him then. She loved Eric, but now there was something she had to know.

"Tell me who I am, Eric. Tell me why Nula says you have always known. And tell me good, Northman, or you can fight this fight alone!"


	5. Chapter 5

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Five

Eric shot a glance at Nula, her nod told him everything he needed to know. He sighed, a sound Sookie was not used to hearing from her lover and companion. Crossing his legs he sat with her, hand still on her shoulder.

When his face was level with hers, Sookie looked into those sapphire eyes. She saw the truth then when she saw the inner conflict that Eric tried so hard to deny. Have you lied to me? She wanted to scream at him, but her dignified silence was even harder for Eric to bear.

"Much of this is guess work," Eric began.

"Don't compound a lie with another, Eric. I want the truth," Sookie told him. Her heart was breaking, she could see the hurt resignation on her vampire's face. Oh Eric, I would have loved you no less, why couldn't you tell me?

"You know about your parents, about the accident?" he waited for an answer. When she nodded he continued.

"Sookie your heritage is both confusing and powerful. When the Nephilim first bred with the sisters of men the children were regarded as giants, with many of the powers and skills of their fathers. By the second generation all of those traits had gone again, they just didn't carry. Most of those first children lived long lives, but when they died so did their spirits.

"But a few of the children developed powers in magic, and those ones had the same ability to transfer from host to host that their father's did. Occasionally they would surface, but we think they learned to go to ground, to live in the shadows. There were very few, and their names are forgotten, apart from Nula. For centuries we thought that Nula was the only survivor of her generation.

"Then you turned up. You are a conundrum, Sookie. You are not Nephilim, because if you were you would be aware of your heritage. But you have all the powers, and then some, that Nula does. Nula and I have had a theory about you, one strengthened by the time she spent inside your head.

"You are not Nephilim, but your powers are. We think when one of Nula's sibling's died it tried to transfer into you, while you were still a child. Something went wrong for it during the jump, because it should have been a case of simply snuffing out your life force, but that didn't happen. Perhaps the fae heritage had left you strong enough already to fight off the attack, but for whatever reason it invaded you, but could not control you. When you killed it's spirit you retained it's powers, locked away until Nula helped you unleash them.

"So no Sookie, I have not lied to you, but I haven't perhaps told you everything I thought I knew." Eric was gazing intently at her.

"So I'm not Nephilim? Azazel lied?" she asked.

"Not quite, he saw you as the spirit who tried to take you, he couldn't understand why you would betray your heritage. By the time he thought he had figured it out we had defeated his brothers. I killed him quickly that night, out of pity for the broken thing he had become. Azazel was a terrifying foe once."

"And you've known all of this all along?" Sookie was crying, she felt cheated. Betrayed.

"We've known, but not how you would develop. First time I saw you use your power I knew I had seen it before. That day you spent with Nula confirmed it. By then we weren't sure what we should tell you, especially when we didn't know if any of it was true," Eric tried to hold her hand, but she pulled it away.

"You mean you didn't trust me to use it to help you, don't you Eric?" When he looked at the ground Sookie knew she was right.

"What would you have done if I had refused to join you? Would you have killed me? Has this whole relationship been a sham so you could control me?" she demanded through her tears.

His eyes flashed with anger.

"Sookie when I told you I loved you I meant it, I would die for you," he told her.

"I'll save you the bother Eric, I'm leaving," she told him, although it broke her heart to say the words.

"But Sookie they're hunting you, Julius and his people. If they find you they will kill you," Eric warned her.

"I can look after myself Eric, you've seen that by now," she wasn't going to be scared back into line.

"But Sookie, I need you," he told her.

"But you'd kill me if you thought I disagreed with you?" she saw the way he looked anywhere but in her eyes.

"You bastard! Even now you would, wouldn't you? After all we've been through together you would kill me with no regret if you thought I'd change sides. The Nephilim are gone Eric, the last one is just about to walk away from you. And I tell you now Eric Northman, don't dare try to stop me!"

She was on her feet. Wiping tears from her face Sookie promised herself they would be the last she would cry for the vampire. Without another word she strode out of the clearing, with no idea where she was going or why. In the dark she followed the moon, away from them. After a while she began to run.

"Will I go after her?" Nula asked.

"Let her go," Eric told her. Crimson tears flowed freely from his eyes. Nula felt his despair, and wanted to comfort him. This was what he had feared, why he had chosen not to tell Sookie what he knew. Perhaps if she went after Sookie she could make her listen, could make her see sense. But Eric's look said no.

Alone in the dark Sookie ran. When her foot snagged a root or her clothes caught a branch she just freed herself and ran on. Only when she became exhausted did she slow to a walk, all the while putting distance between herself and Eric. She needed time to think, to examine their relationship in the light of what she knew now. That was how she walked into the group of vampires who were searching the woods.

"Oh shit!" she said as they turned to face her, fangs down.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Sorry this update has taken longer than usual, I've been having one of those artistic moments when you doubt everything you do. Please review, it's the reviews that keep me writing.

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Six

Thoughts of Eric and his betrayal left Sookie. The only thing in her mind was little doors flinging open as she turned to meet the vampires.

"I will not run away from another bloody bloodsucker!" she told them.

There were six of them, all big and old and mean, and racing to get her before she got them. Each and every one of them knew what she was capable of. Kill or be killed.

Sookie realized they were going to kill her, she couldn't release the power as fast as they could reach her. When she heard the crashing in the trees behind her she never looked round, concentrating on giving these attackers a little taste of sunshine.

He'd followed her from the camp, ignoring Eric's dark look. The Northman had picked a funny time to start listening to Sookie. Ulrich swept into the blood hungry vampires all the while calling on the Valkyries to be ready. Come claim the fallen he taunted as he rushed past Sookie faster than her eye could follow.

Ulrich's armored shoulder caught the nearest foe in the face, tearing off his nose in a spout of crimson fluid. The wicked blade he carried traveled on, finding the heart of a stunned vampire in the back row. A second ago they had been facing a slip of a girl, now a thousand year old warrior from the legends had already claimed two of them.

"Fight me you gutless bastards!" Ulrich yelled as he lashed out with the sword, cutting the next one's throat out. Eyes glassy the vampire fell forward, knocking his noseless comrade over. Three, he was down to three in a couple of seconds, but Ulrich knew they would be harder to kill. All around them the forest was coming to life as more vampires heard the fighting. This had be decisive and quick.

It was. Sookie set fire to the remaining vampires, burning them as if they had come out to meet the sun. She turned to meet Ulrich's stunned gaze, before he looked down at the injured vampire.

"Does that hurt?" he asked, before driving the point of his sword into the fallen man's skull.

"You followed me?" Sookie was annoyed that Eric had sent his friend, but relieved he had been here to buy her the few seconds she needed.

"I did, Eric told me not to," Ulrich told her.

"I'm not going back," she told him firmly.

"I'll come with you then!" case closed, Ulrich was not going to argue.

"But you don't know where I'm going," Sookie said.

"Neither do you, but Eric is my friend, and he meant no harm to you. Until you two have made up I'll make damn sure no harm does come to you."

"Well then run with me, Ulrich, because I can feel a whole lot more of them coming!"

Sookie led, Ulrich followed. She could feel, or rather she could not feel every vampire mind around her. Their dog companions and the other allies they had dug from the soil shone like beacons to be avoided. They ran hard knowing that to slow would be death. Ulrich was just as sure they would be very exposed if they tried to fly.

Bursting from the trees to a clearing they knew to be occupied Ulrich bowled into the vampires, lashing out with cold steel while behind him Sookie gathered fire to burn the vampires. They gave no quarter on that night run, and showed no mercy, knowing they would receive none. It took them two hours to break free of the searchers.

"We fly now, Ulrich," Sookie told him. "We have a very long way to go."

"Sounds like fighting," Pam told Eric.

"I hear it. Has to be Sookie. We'll have to go get her," Eric said.

"Razzle dazzle time, lets give them a show," Nula was laughing, a thick unnatural laugh, bloodlust was taking her as surely as it did the vampires. In her mind she lit a torch, to throw fire at their enemies if they came. She corrected herself, when they came.

It wasn't long before the first vampire scout stuck his head around a tree. Eric hacked it off. The clearing started to fill with sword wielding vampires searching for them. For a brief moment Eric honored his sword, then charged the enemies.

"Where are we going, Sookie?" Ulrich would like to at least know what their goal was.

"It's a long way, but short too," she told him. "I need to find somewhere to rest, then I'll make the rest of the journey alone."

"No! I'm not leaving you," he told her.

"Oh but Ulrich, I must. Where I am going you cannot follow."

Eric slashed at the first of a line of vampires with the evil long bladed sword, spilling his guts on the soft green earth. A group of six had found them first.

"Pam, flee," he yelled as he rushed headlong at the rest of the group.

"I belong here," she refused to go.

"You will go and you will wait for me, I'll not have you die here," he shouted at her.

Furious, but bound to obey Eric, Pam took to the sky and fled.

"Just we two then Eric," Nula commented, before turning her attention to the force that was building against them.

"I love you Eric," she told him as she began to wield fire against the vampires, while Eric danced among them with the sword. He punished them for coming close, delivering killing cut after killing cut. They were bogged down in the fighting, unable to retreat.

Through the trees they heard the first of the black angels coming to reinforce the vampires. These ones had their mouths sewed, and Eric suspected that they were eunuchs. They were evil and dark and powerful. More than a dozen of them entered the clearing all at once. When they saw Eric they charged at him. Nula switched the power she had been wielding to the angels, trying to send them back to where they came from. She wished she could wield the kind of power that Sookie did.

The pair were surrounded, dozens of vampires and angels circled them taking up fighting stances.

"It'll be an honor to die here with you Eric," Nula told him.

"I'm not going to die here," he told her.

Nula hoped he was right, but she could feel the enemy drawing closer.

Around them the vampires held back as the black angels rushed at them all at once. A dozen of the foul hell born creatures attacked.

A/N Please review, I'm dying to know what you think before I go on.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Thank you for the encouragement, please keep the reviews coming!

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Seven

In a clearing Sookie sat on the stump of a fallen tree, eyes closed. Nearby Ulrich was scowling, he didn't like it when he wasn't in control. She was determined she would make the rest of the journey alone, he equally as determined that she would not.

"Someone's coming," Sookie told him, pointing into the air back the way they had come.

Even in the dark Ulrich's sharp eyes could make out the airborne outline coming towards them. For a moment he thought it might be Eric, but when it got closer he could see it was not. Pam landed between them, and she did not look happy.

"Sookie, you need to go back, they're in trouble. He sent me away, wouldn't let me fight. Stubborn big viking's going to die out there," she told them.

"I can't go back," Sookie told her.

"You must, my master needs you. He and Nula are going to be overwhelmed," Pam was in Sookie's face, shoulders square.

"I can't," Sookie told her quietly.

"Because of a tiff, nonsense. You'll go back and save them, he needs you, they both do!" Pam was angry, Eric was in trouble.

"I can't. They'll be fine, he always wins through, there's somewhere I have to go first," Sookie wanted her to understand, but the look of accusation hurt her. She looked at the ground, knowing this had to be done.

"Sookie, he'll die!" Pam grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

A blast of power, intense and unexpected, threw Pam across the clearing. Sookie was crying, but the tears were anger.

"Don't touch me!" she said.

Pam was on her feet and running at Sookie, maddened at the attack on her, frustrated that Sookie would not help Eric. It was Ulrich who got between them.

"Sookie has a journey to make," Ulrich told her in a tone that would suffer no arguing.

"But Eric will die!" Pam fumed.

"Then you and I will go back and die with him. Leave Sookie alone, she knows what's at stake here," he told her.

"Where do you have to go, Sookie? What's so important that you'll let him die?" Pam demanded.

Shaking her head Sookie turned and walked away from them. In a few minutes she was gone from sight.

"I don't believe that," Pam told Ulrich.

"Nor I. Come, it's a good night to die!"

Centuries before Nula had fought with Eric, it was fitting that it should end this way. He saluted her with the blade as the black angels approached. The vampires had backed off, as if they feared being caught in any fight with the angels. They were circling and jeering as the desperate pair braced themselves for the final charge.

In all the fights she had been in alongside Eric, this was the first time Nula had known fear. Not for herself, she had lived a long life, but for Eric. She made a decision then, held her arm out to the vampire who had once been her lover.

"Feed, Eric. You need the strength," she told him.

Eric looked into her eyes, seeing what she offered. He cast a glance at the enemy advancing on him. Was his life worth this?

Of course it was, he thought, as he plunged his fangs into her flesh. He kept his mouth on her, drinking deeply, until the angels were on him.

Then he began to laugh, understanding the gift Nula had given him.

Twirling in the moonlight, a blur of silver steel and Nephilim magic, Eric's sword began to sing. The metal moved so fast through the air as he wielded it that the blade vibrated, creating the low humming noise that was it's song. Full of rage and grief for the things he had been forced to do, Eric charged the angels.

On the ground behind him Nula lay, her life force spent.

"To hell, you bastards, I'll show you the way!" he invited, moving into the attackers with such speed that even the vampires around them couldn't follow him. His blade caught the closest angel across the neck, decapitating it, then traveled on to bite into the chest of the foe behind. It couldn't scream as he twisted the blade, before he ripped it free of the thing's flesh. Then he was gone again, their blows missing him as they tried to land just one that would stop him.

Everything Eric possessed was focused on attack, he leaped across the open ground between him and the next angel, blade singing until it bit into the thing's guts, halving it. There was a spurt of gore and stinking entrails as the thing fell, but Eric had already gone. He jumped headlong into the next foe, blade held out in front of him. The point drove through it's skull. Smashing the bone and shredding the brain. He had to use his foot to kick the corpse off.

No more than a blur to his enemies he was gone again, they tried to follow him, but he was just too fast. With no thought for protecting his friends Eric was free to fight as he had first learned, a thousand years before.

From the air Ulrich and Pam saw the devil that was Eric, dancing among the angels. He had become a killing machine, at one with his blade, laying waste to them as their attack faltered. Eric had become the very essence of terrible revenge. Close by Nula lay on the ground, the host clearly dead. So she had jumped, thought Ulrich. Such a pity, he had liked that body.

Perhaps there was hope after all. Ulrich had never seen his friend fight in such a frenzy, every blow a kill. Like a fox among chickens he stalked the evil creatures, making them seem stupid and slow as their weapons connected with nothing more than air. Four of them lay dead already, and another fell headless as Eric caught the thing turning to face him.

"Is this it, Julius? Are these children all you've got?" Eric goaded, sidestepping a well aimed but ineffective blow. Dancing the swordsman's dance he had the thing's arm off with the first cut, his stab claiming it's life.

Ulrich landed where Nula had fallen. The body she had occupied was indeed dead, drained almost dry. He wondered where she'd jumped to. At his side Pam wanted to join the fighting, but she dared not in case her master should cut her down by mistake. Four more of the angels were down. Ulrich rushed to join Eric, leaving Pam with the body.

From all around they were coming, the legion of damned and dead who had come here for one purpose, to kill Eric. Julius broke out of the trees into the open just as Eric finished off the last of the angels. He was not alone.

Full of blood lust Eric bowled into the little group of black angels, all that remained of hell's black minions on the field. He caught the first low, claiming a leg, then turning the blade to rip the thing open from below. Side stepping a heavy blow from it's companion he drove his blade under it's guard and into it's heart. A blow caught his leg, but he seemed not to feel it as he dived to the ground, hoisting the blade into the air with all his strength. It punctured the angels guts from below, driven up between it's legs.

The final angel landed a lucky blow to Eric's shoulder, drawing a huge amount of blood as it exposed the bone. If he felt it the wound never slowed Eric down, although his arm was all but useless.

Beside Julius stood a figure in a long red robe. Smoke came from it's feet and where it stood on the forest floor the ground smouldered. From a pocket inside the robe it produced a bag of dust which it blew into the air. The fine dust seemed to multiply and disperse above the fighting, before falling on friend and foe alike. Where it landed vampires on both sides screamed in agony.

"Silver dust," Ulrich observed, as it fell on him. Julius was laughing, the last thing he saw before the silver dust landed on him. Then he began to scream.


	8. Chapter 8

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Eight

From her vantage on the hill top Sookie saw the fighting end. At her side her companion said nothing. Through the trees they couldn't see everything, but what they saw was enough. Nula was down, as was Eric, and Ulrich could be heard screaming from here. Only Pam remained on her feet, but she was surrounded by the enemy, and Sookie knew her well enough to know she would talk herself to death down there.

"What do you want to do?" her companion asked.

"We go to them, Azazel. This ends here," she told him.

Behind them nearly two hundred beautiful men arose from their hiding places. They were dressed in a myriad of styles and colors, the hosts taken as they had been encountered. Behind her Sookie had the Nephilim.

Once she would have been appalled at their casual indifference to human life, but she was numb to it now. Sookie hoped that she would not always feel that way.

"You want to do this? Is he worth it?" Azazel asked in his timeless, comforting voice.

"It's why I came to the valley for you. I've accepted my heritage, but Eric is my future," she told him.

With a wave the force was on the march. Satarel led his company off to the left, to feed into the enemy flank, while the main force took a direct path to the fighting below. All the time Azazel stayed at Sookie's side.

"Why did you not approach your Fae cousins?" he asked as they walked. His manner was casual, as if they were out for a moonlight stroll.

"Eric has kept me from them, or more fate has. When this is over I'm going to fix that," she told him.

"Sookie, you know you're unique, you're well placed to be a ruler on this planet. With your heritage you can unite the Fae, the Nephilim, and even the vampires with Eric's help. What will you do with so much power?" Azazel asked.

She stopped then, looked the ageless man in the eyes.

"What would you have me do?" she asked.

"It's your power to wield as you will, the Nephilim will follow your command, just as we agreed," he told her.

"I want to live a quiet life, fade back into the background," she told him. "Unless someone pisses me off again!"

His laugh was pleasant, musical. Sookie had never had time to explore these qualities in the Nephilim before, they had always been trying to kill each other. Now here they were, like a troubled girl and her kind old uncle. She found it strange but comforting, and knew they would keep their bargain with her.

Down below they had lost sight of Eric and the others. Dozens of vampires were searching the undergrowth around the fight, looking for her probably. From a cloud of red boiling smoke a dozen of the black angels had come to retrieve their dead. Further back Julius stood, Brinn at one side and a strange robed figure who seemed to be making the grass burn on the other. Four vampires stood with them but apart, venerable old creatures who were both wise and cruel. All along the tableau vampires handled pairs of the evil fighting dogs, the hairless pus covered abominations from the fevered imagination of an evil creator.

Closer to the scene of the fighting many vampires lay writhing on the ground. The cloud that had blown over them had been indiscriminate, burning friend or foe alike. She felt revulsion when she saw that the enemy were happy to stake the worst hurt of their own comrades, rather than help them. In a few minutes they would have closed the gap, and it would begin again. The fighting, there was always fighting, she sighed.

Closing her eyes, Sookie opened the doors in her head, reaching out to feel her surroundings, her senses telling her what her eyes could not. Eric was alive, although barely, but he felt wrong. Ulrich was badly burned and in pain, but he was preparing to fight his captors when they got close enough. It surprised Sookie that she had read him so easily, she'd never been able to do that before. Nearby Pam stood, under the trees. The dust had fallen around her, but she was unhurt. Sookie felt sorrow for Nula, her presence was gone from the field.

There were others here too, with the enemy. At least one witch, and a male partner with her who at least equaled her in power. Sookie knew now who she would have to engage first. She told Azazel what she had felt.

On the other side of the opposing force Sookie could feel Satarel closing in on the enemy flank. They were ready.

"I promised you the service of the Nephilim, in return for release from the Valley," he told her, "but I ask you once more, is he worth it?"

"He is," she told him.

"Then send up your signal, Sookie, Satarel will be in place by now."

Dancing blue flames formed on Sookie's hands and arms, engulfing her limbs as it formed and fed on her power. She sighted Julius again, then threw the glowing ball of energy straight at him.

"The bitch is back!"

Julius heard her, looked up to see the glowing ball she had flung at him. He had expected her to be cowering somewhere in fear, hiding from them. This frontal attack was not at all what he had predicted. Then he realized the energy was well aimed. As he jumped out of the way he barked warnings to his followers. One of the old vampires saw the danger too late, was caught in the glow. When it burst into flame Julius knew what the witch had done.

"She's throwing sunlight at us!"

Azazel bowed and stepped away from Sookie, the Nephilim would need their commander. She stood alone but for her bodyguards, building another ball of energy to fling at Julius. Her signal brought Satarel forward, smashing his Nephilim force into the unprotected rear of the vampires. Azazel led a charge directly to the place where they had seen Eric fall. If it struck him as odd that he had come here to rescue his ancient enemy he never remarked.


	9. Chapter 9

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Nine

Laughter behind them alerted Julius to the Nephilim attack. Satarel was there, no longer able to contain himself. In his mirth he engaged Julius himself, while his force swarmed over the command group.

"We hunted your kind once," Satarel told Julius.

"I am not just a vampire," Julius told him.

"I know, fool. When we ran out of your lot we started on the vampires!"

Satarel snarled in frustration as his blow was turned by one of the vampires. The ancients were much faster than the Nephilim, but death would be more final for them too. The boy Brinn and the trio of ancients formed a shield around Julius. He looked ridiculous out here in his white robe, when everyone else was dressed for war, but he was the most deadly opponent on the field.

And he was looking straight at Sookie. His eye caught hers, and he was inside her head.

"Not this time, bastard!" she screamed.

The creature in the robe had cast off the garment. There was a hush on the fighting for just a moment as everyone, friend and foe alike, turned to see the creature that was among them. It stood almost eight feet tall, with fiery red and black skin. Like a huge muscled man the thing clutched a sword in each hand, and fire smouldered where it walked. Even the Nephilim, truly immortal, knew fear when they saw it.

"He's brought an elemental!"

It started as a whisper among the combatants, but soon the cry was carried among them. No-one here had ever faced one of them before. Beside Satarel one of his followers blazed into flame when it struck him.

Satarel winced, hoping the magical fire did not kill the soul as well as the body. Then the vampires came again and he was kept occupied fending off the attack.

"Get out of my head," Sookie screamed at the demon. She had fought Julius like this before, and would have lost without the help of Nula. There would be no help this time, but Sookie knew she was much stronger. She could feel the tiny man in her brain as he began to attack her from the inside. He was closing the doors that released her power.

But she had learned from his first attack. Inside her mind she made a small version of herself, then launched it on her attacker. Julius seemed unprepared for her arrival. This was the second time tonight she had surprised him. The pair went down in a writhing mess of nails and teeth.

Defying the wounds that should have killed him, Eric got to his feet. Beside him Ulrich, flesh burned badly by the silver, was up as well. He looked a question at Eric, but his friend just turned away. Blood red tears began flowing freely down the ancient vampire's face. Nula. He had seen the body, knew how she had been drained. Ulrich knew he would have done the same if the positions were reversed. They were vampires after all.

Seeing them up again Azazel pushed harder to get his force to the vampires. Between them the dog handlers and their pets were putting up a hellish fight. The Nephilim were making ground, but the cost was high. Many of the hosts lay abandoned, the bodies ruined by the savage animals.

Trying his ruined arm Eric was surprised to find it working. He picked up his sword, and bit into his tongue. With his own blood in his mouth Eric felt himself taken by berserker rage. He would wreak terrible vengeance this night. In a flash of steel and rage he began to cut a path to the Nephilim, Ulrich at his side.

Two tiny figures fought inside Sookie's head. It was really her spirit against his, but the description was easier for her to cope with. When they had met before he had almost had her, but this time she knew what to expect. Julius made a clever feint that should have crippled her brain, but Sookie clung to him, gouging his eyes with her nails. She was fighting for her life, and her soul. And she was fighting by Bon Temps rules.

Satarel ducked and dived as the elemental tried repeatedly to strike him with those flaming blades. He had no idea if they could really hurt him, and no desire to find out. Four of his brothers had fallen to the creature of hell, and he knew he couldn't feel their spirits any more. It was all the incentive he needed not to join them.

Pressed back by the ancient vampires and the elemental, the initial assault on Julius faltered, then became a holding action, as the Nephilim tried not to concede any more ground. Parrying the blows Satarel tried to think of a way to fight the monster before the fire got him too. He had never faced it's like before, elementals were not usually able to leave their realm. Something more powerful than Julius was at work here.

Azazel had reached Eric. His appraising eye noted the wounds, but he said nothing of them. Instead he ordered a group to escort Eric back to Sookie. They looked at him, knowing that the wound should have been fatal.

"Stubborn sort of bastard, that one," he said after Eric was gone. For a moment he watched them moving away from the fighting, until he was sure they would reach Sookie. Then he turned his attention back to leading his force against the vampires.

Forgotten and unnoticed at the edge of the clearing, Pam stood alone, taking the whole scene in. Occasionally the fighting would drift near her, but she managed to stay out of it, not sure which side to take. Her wandering eyes rested on Sookie, returned to her friends but seeming somehow aloof from them. The telepath was staring white eyed at a point on the other side of the fight, where the pretty men were fighting with a white robed man's guards. Pam's mouth fell open when she saw Eric push himself upright and join the fighting again. He should have been dead, the wounds he carried were horrific, but still he fought.

Her eyes were drawn back to the telepath, and then to the man she had locked eyes with. Pam knew little of telepath business, but she knew a battle of wills when she saw one. Instinctively she knew what she had to do. Careful not to attract attention Pam took to the air.

Sookie used her nails to ruin the invader's face, but still Julius kept up his relentless assault on her. She was weakening, while he seemed to have limitless strength. Without help she would lose soon, she thought ruefully. Julius laughed at her, he had heard her thought, then attacked her with renewed ferocity.

"Sookie!" Eric moved to embrace her, then realized that she was not here, her eyes were rolled back into her head, looking inward instead of out. Eric had seen her like this before once, when she had fought Julius. He followed her sightless stare to find the little demon with his elemental, just in time to see Pam land inside the ring of guards. The noise of wood cracking bone could be heard from here as Pam split his skull.

Satarel saw the blow land on Julius. He had no idea who this newcomer was, but was very glad to see her. Before him the elemental's attack faltered then stopped. The thing stood motionless before him, eyes down. Cautiously the Nephilim backed away from it, enjoying the dismay he saw on the faces of the ancient vampires.

"Game on boys," he taunted them as he and his force surged forward, overwhelming them.

"Sookie, can you feed Eric?"

The voice was inside her head, just as Julius had been until a second ago. For the first time she saw her wounded mate, and saw the state of his shoulder. He should be dead, but something was keeping him moving.

"Nula?" Sookie asked.

"I'm inside Eric, I went into him when he fed from me. You have to help him Sookie, it's only my life force that is keeping him here at all."

"Gladly," Sookie told her, then offered her neck to Eric. He fed. During the blood transfer Nula moved to Sookie.

"I need a host," she lamented.

"There's a witch in the fighting, she's about your size," Sookie informed her.

Nula was gone again, leaving Sookie with a sense of loss.

Coming back to herself now that Julius was gone, Sookie embraced Eric.

"You came back," he said.

"I will never leave you, I went for help," she told him.

"The Nephilim?" he asked.

"It's a family thing," she told him.

Her blood and energy were healing the wound on his back, with Eric's nodded consent she offered herself to Ulrich. As the grizzled old veteran fed on her Sookie whispered something that touched his dead heart.

"She's here, looking for a host."

Ulrich cried again, this time for joy.

But the moment was short lived. Over his shoulder Sookie saw a large group of the horned black angels, their mouths sewn shut. They were coming for her.


	10. Chapter 10

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Ten

Two dozen of the black angels were advancing on the little group that was Sookie, Eric and Ulrich. She wondered was this how it would end for them. That was becoming a cliché she decided, and it would not end here, not like this. Eric was healing fast, and the sparkle was back in his eyes.

Through the forest the Nephilim hunted vampire, staking every one they found, Satarel closed his force with Azazel, locking the enemy in a vice of steel and wood. Vampire blood spilled freely among the trees as the Nephilim hunted, just as they had for ages before.

Grimly the angels marched towards them, not worried by the pair of females who joined their target. Even when Sookie began to glow blue, the witch beside her matching her in power and intensity, the daemons just kept on coming. Behind them, closer to her master, Pam watched it all. This was the stuff of legend she thought, just like the vampires.

There would be no help from the Nephilim, they were caught in a killing and feeding frenzy among the enemy vampires. It was only when a red cloud began to form above the fighting that they realized something more was happening.

Roaring his battle cry Eric charged at the creatures, Ulrich as always, at his side. Azazel saw now what was happening, began to rally the Nephilim to him to face the new threat. A war drum could be heard beating from inside the cloud, and the smell of Hell itself washed over them. The Nephilim rushed to protect Sookie, but they wouldn't make it in time.

Bright fire danced from her arms, lancing into the angels, burning them. Nula's attack was every bit as ferocious, and the intensity was enough to slow their advance, then stop it. Where the fire touched the angels burned. Fearless Eric was among them, spinning and dancing, cutting and stabbing, as he exacted a price from them. With Sookie's energy in him they were no much for him or the warrior who fought at his side.

Above them the cloud continued to grow. Everyone could see inside now, the armies of Hell were amassed on the other side. They were coming.

The daemon's had stopped to fight with the warriors in their midst, but they were too slow to land any kind of blow on the pair. They died by bright blue fire or hard swung steel.

Touching the ground the red cloud boiled and rolled. Those awful drums were beating a tattoo, marking time for the army that would spill forth to take the Earth from mortals. Sookie, Nula, Eric and Ulrich stood side by side now as they watched. Azazel joined them, Satarel at his side. The Nephilim were soaked in blood and wounded.

"What now?" asked Pam, terror on her face.

"Look after the club for me," Eric told her.

"Why, where are you going?" she demanded.

"To Hell, Pam, to Hell!"

He looked to the faces of his companions and saw that they were ready. Sookie was smiling at him, accepting her fate to live or die by his side. Around them the Nephilim were gathering.

Screaming his cry for what might be the last time on this Earth Eric led them all into the rolling cloud. Straight into the mouth of Hell.

Then the cloud was gone, and Pam alone. She stood and stared, waiting for them to come back, until she felt the sun approaching. Alone she turned away.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Okay so I couldn't just leave it like that.

Eric's Revenge

Chapter Eleven

Beyond the portal was a strange and barren land, punctuated with crevices and ruts where flames danced. Everything they saw was in shades of red, and the heat was stifling for all but the vampires. In the distance they saw the black angels retreating, even as the remaining Nephilim filed through the gateway between the realms.

Eric's charge had been cut short. Here on the open plain, looking down over the last valley of the first realm of Hell, was not the place to go blindly charging into battle. Arrayed before them were the vast armies of Hell, some creatures familiar, others utterly alien. They all saw the cloud of permanent red smoke that shielded one battalion completely from view, even of their neighbors. From here they could see the command group, watching the portal eagerly for the sign that Julius had prepared the way. This realm would be the staging post for the final invasion of Earth, the end of days.

It was Azazel who chose to explain to the mortals what was happening here.

"In the first war in heaven, God cast out the Devil and his followers to their own realm, Hell. Always they have looked upon and envied that which occurred in yours, knowing that where you had life and creation they had only death and destruction. Just as we did after them they envy human life, but we chose to join with it, they chose to destroy it. These armies have been amassing for the next war between Heaven and Hell," he sounded like the narrator of a Hollywood block buster.

"Why do they wait?" asked Nula.

"They don't have enough power gathered yet to hold the portal long enough. Perhaps they thought that by adding Sookie's not insignificant power to their own they could achieve a breach big enough to let the army through. I warn you, both of you, that your powers will manifest differently here. Your magic is from the world of men, and it may be stronger or weaker here, we won't know until you use it."

"How do you know all of this?" Sookie asked, staring in awe at the forces below.

"I was on the winning side when we put them here," he answered simply.

Sookie nodded at that, drawing a parallel with Eric's battle with the Nephilim and their prisons on Earth. She could see how what went around had come around as her brother would say.

"Can we defeat them?" Eric asked.

"I don't know Northman. The Nephilim are at the height of their powers here, as I suspect Nula and Sookie will be, as for you vampires only time and experience will tell. Do you want to do this?" Azazel looked at him, his expression unreadable.

"The incursions have to stop," Eric told him.

"So be it," Azazel said. At some signal the Nephilim dropped their hosts. With a noise that sounded like a bucket of wet fish dumped on a carpet the bodies fell away, revealing the Nephilim for what they were.

Huge and magnificent, like white men with wings, dressed in gleaming silver chain mail. Their faces were at once angelic and monstrous, beautiful and yet dangerous. They had fangs, a point that Eric seemed to approve of. Two hundred of God's stromtroopers thought Sookie.

Satarel had joined them, he had a bugle ready, awaiting Azazel's order.

"Advance on the command group," Eric told them.

Azazel smiled, he would allow himself to be led by a warrior as seasoned as the viking. Standing in awe Sookie was forced to collect herself and keep up as Eric led the advance. Testing her own limits she began to open doors, accidentally discharging a ball of flaming blue energy in the process. Wow, she thought, I'm smoking here.

Below the command group had seen them. At first they mistook they newcomers as allies, began to ride towards them, but as they got closer the evil horse like monstrosities that they rode balked, and became difficult to handle. In their arrogance they assumed that no enemy would meet them here.

Satarel blew the bugle again, anticipating Eric's order. At the viking's side Nula and Sookie unleashed hideous burning flame on the forward group as the Nephilim swept into them. It was brutal and short, hideous and malignant as they were they were not prepared for the retribution that Eric led against them. There were no survivors.

Alone Eric paced to the front of the vast army that had watched their commanders so completely annihilated.

"My name is Eric," he told them. "Your portal opens into my area, so I've come with a message."

Thousands of evil faces glared at him, but not one moved, they had seen what this group of vampires and Nephilim had done to their masters.

"There's a new Sheriff in town!"


End file.
